NASCAR's Chase between Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin not as historic as battle in 1992

When it comes to the most exciting, memorable and all-time best NASCAR Sprint Cup championship battle, 1992 will continue to be the gold standard.

The battle we have brewing this year is a good one. Jimmie Johnson is attempting to win an unprecedented fifth consecutive title, while Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick are trying to stop him.

It’s close. Hamlin leads Johnson by 15 points and Harvick by 46.

But nothing will compare to 1992, even if Sunday’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway comes down to the final turn of the last lap, and that’s not just because you probably are like most NASCAR fans and dislike the Chase.

It wasn’t just what happened on Nov. 15, 1992, at Atlanta Motor Speedway that made that finale so unforgettable. It was what happened in the months and years that followed that made 1992 so historic.

The race alone was enough to make it a defining moment in NASCAR history.

Davey Allison entered the Hooters 500 leading Alan Kulwicki by 30 points and Bill Elliott by 40, and he needed to place in the top five to clinch the championship. Allison’s hopes were dashed on lap 286, though. Allison was seventh when Ernie Irvan cut a tire, bounced off Terry Labonte and took him out.

That left Elliott and Kulwicki to battle it out. Elliott won the race, but Kulwicki led the most laps and finished second, and that enabled him to beat out Elliott by 10 points.

Had third-place finisher Geoff Bodine gotten by Kulwicki, Elliott and Kulwicki would have tied in the final standings. Elliott would have been crowned champion since he won five races during the season, while Kulwicki won two.

It’s unlikely NASCAR will ever have another champion like Kulwicki, who won the title as an owner/driver. The sport has changed immensely in the past 18 seasons. Today’s NASCAR is dominated by multi-car teams. Little guys such as Kulwicki don’t have a prayer.

Kulwicki never had a chance to defend his championship, and Allison never raced for one again.

The racing world was shocked less than five months later when Kulwicki was killed in a plane crash on April 1, 1993. NASCAR was rocked again that summer when Allison was killed in a helicopter crash at Talladega.

There have been some great points battles in NASCAR history.

Richard Petty defeated Darrell Waltrip by 11 points with a late-season rally in 1979. Rusty Wallace edged out Dale Earnhardt by 12 points to win it all in 1989, and that came after he lost the title by 24 to Elliott the year before.

Earnhardt won some pressure-packed titles, too. Earnhardt won his first title in 1980 by nipping Cale Yarborough by 19 points, and he beat out Mark Martin in 1990 by 26.

How about the first year of the Chase in 2004? Kurt Busch edged Johnson by eight points and Jeff Gordon by 16.